How To Become A Director Of Preschool: What It Is and Career Path

What is a director of preschool and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average director of preschool salary is $45,132. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an early childhood education major. It usually takes 2-4 years of experience to become a director of preschool. Directors of preschool with a Child Development Associate (CDA) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 6,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDirector Of PreschoolUS Average

Salary

3.5

Avg. Salary $45,132

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.2

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.32%

Asian 2.74%

Black or African American 7.01%

Hispanic or Latino 10.14%

Unknown 3.55%

White 76.24%

Gender

female 94.83%

male 5.17%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a director of preschool

Explore director of preschool education requirements

Most common director of preschool degrees

Bachelor's

59.5 %

Associate

18.6 %

Master's

14.2 %

Start to develop specific director of preschool skills

Skills	Percentages
Childhood	13.18%
Professional Development	12.01%
Curriculum Development	11.45%
Staff Supervision	7.32%
Classroom Management	6.22%

Research director of preschool duties and responsibilities

Direct and manage every aspect of an extremely successful preschool, including enrollment, tuition, payroll, and all budgets.
Create and maintain a budget, this include tuition fees, payroll, insurances, supplies, etc.
Develop a staff of 15 through ongoing coaching, and training into a team of skil early childhood teachers.
Hire and train quality early childhood educators.

Get director of preschool experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a director of preschool. The most common roles before becoming a director of preschool include teacher, preschool teacher team lead and lead teacher.

Prepare your director of preschool resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your director of preschool resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a director of preschool resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable director of preschool resume templates

Build a professional director of preschool resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your director of preschool resume.

Apply for director of preschool jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a director of preschool job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do directors of preschool rate their job?

-/5

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Director of preschool reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2021

Pros

I like working with my students, their parents and the various specialists my students need in order to increase their physical, emotional, daily living and cognitive skills.